7970ghz to R9 290/HD 7990 worth the upgrade??

(7970GHZ 6GB btw)

I guess the more demanding games i would play are Modded Skyrim (Hell on the VRAM), And the Bioshock Games along with the newer borderlands, but also add on i'd like to do 3D Modeling and Photo/Video Editing too, my expectancy is to have the game on as beautiful/max graphical settings as it can go but able to put out a good FPS, nothing super great but enough that it wont feel clunky.

Screen setup i would have too is

Dell U2412M @ 1920X1200 then 2 Acer 1366X768 Monitors

I'm not into games like Battlefield and Call of Duty and Metro.
 
Well going to a 7990 will be just like adding another 7970 to your system, Almost anyway and going the 290 route will give you 1GB more memory and slightly newer architecture.

The 7990 performs the best in terms of raw FPS and the only downside really is that in total it has 3GB per GPU vs the 290's 4GB so it's up to you but seeing as you are at 1920x1200 I'd say it would be a nice little upgrade if you want to dabble with dual GPU cards :)
 
Well going to a 7990 will be just like adding another 7970 to your system, Almost anyway and going the 290 route will give you 1GB more memory and slightly newer architecture.

The 7990 performs the best in terms of raw FPS and the only downside really is that in total it has 3GB per GPU vs the 290's 4GB so it's up to you but seeing as you are at 1920x1200 I'd say it would be a nice little upgrade if you want to dabble with dual GPU cards :)

my worry with the 7990 is it's only 3GB per card (i know 3GB is good and not an "only) but a big modded skyrim could easily eat that 3GB like it was for breakfast i heard, though im sure the R9 290's vram could cope with the big mods and it has the extra GPU horsepower.

the best option i think would be Xfire 7970GHZ 6GB but the 6gb cards are so hard to find and the ones that are around are very expensive (on the used markets)
 
my worry with the 7990 is it's only 3GB per card (i know 3GB is good and not an "only) but a big modded skyrim could easily eat that 3GB like it was for breakfast i heard, though im sure the R9 290's vram could cope with the big mods and it has the extra GPU horsepower.

the best option i think would be Xfire 7970GHZ 6GB but the 6gb cards are so hard to find and the ones that are around are very expensive (on the used markets)

Well if you need extra memory due to mods then the 290 is a no brainer :)

No point in the 7970 6GB cards as they would be stupid expensive.
 
Post restored.

In your case, with heavily modded Skyrim eating up VRAM, but not being THAT GPU intensive and a tripple monitor set-up, I'd go for a 290 now and you'll still have the option later if you deem that necessary.

I suspect you also had the idea to do that with the 7970? But apparently that wasn't necessary for a long time either. I agree a 7990 is pretty and gives you bragging rights and all but if you don't need it then it's kind of a waste, especially since it's an outdated card.
 
Ooooh yes! :D i forgot about that card :], plus i love the design of it too it's very....groovy.
am i being too hardcore when it comes to vram? too much importance?.

How much FPS would i be expecting to gain if i went for that 290X? i'd like a 20-40fps gain here :].
 
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There is rumors that the big Nvidia card might drop next week. If that's the case, either AMD is getting ready to launch, or we are going to see some major price cuts. You might want to wait just a little bit.
 
There is rumors that the big Nvidia card might drop next week. If that's the case, either AMD is getting ready to launch, or we are going to see some major price cuts. You might want to wait just a little bit.

Based on my own research that makes the most sense now since the 290 looks all around the better option (and that 290X too *W*). so i'll wait for the new AMD cards to come along and see whats what :].

Apparently i seen something saying that the R9 380X will be the one to compete against the 970/980 and by my guess by that information that the R9 390X will be some mega world tearing machine of death ....good heavens what the 395X2 will be like if it's all true.

Thanks guys as well :].


HEY GUYS


MSI R9 290X Gaming 8GB, how does that fare against the Sapphire version?

i love it because....




.....Dragons :')

i least hope 15/16 will be the term of the big full comeback of AMD.
 
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Sapphire card is better. The MSI R9 290/290x cards lack cooling power. So naturally the card runs very hot. The best 290/x cards are the MSI Lightning, Sapphire Toxic/Vapor, Powercolor PCS+ cards. All others don't really fare well against them tbh

Edit: Forgot XFX! They are good too
 
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I've been curious about powercolor....often their cards seem to be priced cheaper than most, but i heard they dont use as high quality components.

i know apparently to stay as far away from XFX in terms of graphics?, heard they overheat badly and customer service is abysmal
 
XFX have improved since the 7970 days. I think they fired their management or something like that. Their current cards are pretty decent. They look great as well.
 
XFX have improved since the 7970 days. I think they fired their management or something like that. Their current cards are pretty decent. They look great as well.

+1

My flat mate has an XFX 290X DD Black Edition and it not only looks sexy as hell but performs brilliantly.

GX-222-XF_94760_350.jpg



Tom reviewed the 290 non "X" version.


Video Review -





Written Review -

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/xfx_r9_290_dd_double_dissipation_gpu_review/1
 
It's a sexy ass card and near the top in temps. Also it's not as long as the Tri-X/Vapor-X cards so that could be a plus for some people.
 
Remember, if a game doesn't have crossfire support you'll be getting the same frame rate you get with one 7970. Not to mention blocks for the 7990 are getting quite hard to find.
 
Remember, if a game doesn't have crossfire support you'll be getting the same frame rate you get with one 7970. Not to mention blocks for the 7990 are getting quite hard to find.

+1

The other thing to remember about using 2 or more GPUs is often the minimum fps are the same as on a single GPU.
 
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